Responsible gambling is increasingly drawing the interest of charity organizations in the United Kingdom. This is not too surprising considering the rapid growth of gambling, especially in the online sector. The contribution of these charities is certainly a good thing and the public is beginning to see the essence of their involvement.
The most recent charities to partner up in a bid to promote education on gambling and gambling-related harm are the Young Gamers and Gamblers Education Trust (YGAM), British sports charity StreetGames and Yorkshire Sport Foundation (YSF). These three organizations have some pretty impressive plans and by working together they will be able to tackle issues related to responsible gambling more effectively.
YGAM which will be spearheading these initiatives plans to offer bespoke training sessions where it will be concentrating on raising awareness and educating young people in the United Kingdom about the potential risks and the consequences associated with gambling. This training program will go further to ensure that wider networks working with both StreetGames and YSF can utilize the available resources to help in mitigating against gambling-related harm.
Most notably, the affiliated organizations will be doubling down on their efforts with regards to working with young and vulnerable people to help identify early warnings of harm. They will then move forward by suggesting and implementing the best possible age-appropriate interventions to implement.
“Working with sports clubs and groups is a natural progression for YGAM and something we have been making progress on for some time. There is a clear alignment in our values and mission, to safeguard children and ensure each young person gets a healthy start in life,” Sam Starsmore, the YGAMs’ National Education Manager commented.
Thankfully, YGAM has rolled out several additional tools and resources in 2020 and these are meant to make the fight against gambling-related harm easier.
Responsible Gambling Efforts in the UK
As much as efforts to tackle gambling-related harm in the United States are being ramped up, the fight is still far from over. The United Kingdom Gambling Commission has been very vocal about the measures it is trying to put in place to protect consumers.
However, many of the gambling operators in the country have been faulted for not acting quickly enough in putting in place measures designed to combat gambling-related harm. While many operators have already started working on such initiatives, there are many more that are yet to act. Perhaps this will take a bit more time but hopefully, it all gets sorted out very soon.
